DE-Jared Allen-Heart and soul of the defense and maybe the team, he restructures in order to give the FO some cap space and to try and take this team to the Super Bowl in the next couple of years.

DT-Kevin Williams- He has said that he is willing to work with the front office on his contract to be able to stay with the team that drafted him. He is still a adequate starter or a very good rotational player.

FA

DT-Terrance Knighton- After being bench earlier this year Knighton enter FA looking for a chance to start. The Vikings give him that chance. At worse he will be a good rotational guy and at best he can use his big body to stop the run.

LB- Thomas Howard- Coming off a torn ACL the Vikings sign Howard to a low risk contract. He was the Bengals leading tackler in 2011 and he will come in and compete with Henderson for the job.

S- Kenny Phillips- Phillips is a very good and productive safety when he is able to stay healthy which has been the biggest concern since being drafted. If he can stay healthy we will compete with the Steelers for the best safety tandem in the league.

CB-Brent Grimes- In keeping with Speilman’s MO of signing injured players to a”prove it” contract, he takes a chance on Grimes. Grimes was one of the better CB in the league before his injury. I know a lot people think he maybe to expensive but I don't think he will be after missing the entire season last year. If he can regain some of his form he can be a steal.

Draft

Round 1- MLB- Kevin Minter- The LSU product is a hard hitting downhill run defender that has the speed to cover RB out of the back field. He reads and reacts to the football very well. Uses his hands very good to shed bigger and stronger lineman. He will need to develop a little more in the passing game but that can be coached up.

Round 2-WR-Justin Hunter- Hunter has drawn comparisons to AJ Green which would be awesome if he could live up to that. He is one of the smoothest route runners in the draft. He can gain separation with his speed or his outstanding route running. He was just starting to gain his speed back after his ACL injury. He needs to concentrate on catching the ball a little better but he can be the true number one WR the Vikings have been trying to get back since Moss.

Round 3-OG- Alvin Bailey- Bailey is a beast of a man at 6’5” and 320lbs, he has versatility to play either left or right side and experience in both. Bailey needs to learn how to keep his feet moving in the pass rush but is athletic enough to pull and block at the second level.

Round 4-WR-Cobi Hamilton- I believe that Hamilton slides because of all the other talented WR in this draft. Hamilton is well known to the Vikings because all of the time they spent in Arkansas last year scouting Childs and Wright. He isn’t the best route runner but he does run the 9route really well. With Hunter, Harvin, Childs, Wright and Hamilton we would have the making of a very good and young WR core. I aslo think with all the young talent at WR it would push Percy into being a leader which it is something I think he will be very good at.

Round 4-DT- Brandon Williams- A D-II prospect out of Missouri Southern, he is a huge man at 6’3” and 325lbs. He is very quick and agile for a man that size. His biggest knock is the level of competition he faced. If he could step his game up he could be the steal of the draft here.

Round 5- QB-Landry Jones- With Webb out of the way the Vikings are looking for a new back-up QB. Jones has almost everything you want in a NFL signal caller, good arm, good accuracy, can read defenses. But he lacks is the confidence to stay in the pocket. If he can figure that out he could be a really good QB at the next level.

Round 7-S- Zeke Motta- No Spielman draft would be complete without at least one Golden Domer. Motta seemed to disappear in the game against Bama but so did the rest of the Irish defense. Motta can develop into a nice special teams player right away and in a year or two can compete for the starting job.

Round 7-P- Ryan Allen- With Kluwe cut the Vikings draft his replacement. Allen was third in FBS with and average of 48 yds a punt. He can be the kind of weapon that can change the field position for this team and make it easier on the defense.

Sorry forgot about Loadholt._________________

Last edited by vikings209 on Thu Jan 24, 2013 10:57 pm; edited 1 time in total

Kluwe had his career high in net yardage per punt.....what declined in his performance?

That would be a good pod season, that team is better than this last team.

I don't really attribute net yardage to the punter. To me that shows the improvement on the coverage team. But his performances in the final game against GB where he shanked a couple of kicks and earlier when the team gave try outs to a couple of punters because of performance just seems to me that they do not want to keep him around._________________

Statistically Kluwe had a down year, but in the past he's been a very consistent punter. I also believe we're over looking the influence he has on Walsh. Kicking in mostly mental, and I'm willing to bet Kluwe helps keep the kid grounded.

I don't really attribute net yardage to the punter. To me that shows the improvement on the coverage team.

Net yardage has significantly more to do with the punter than the coverage team. It doesn't matter if the kicker can boom it if he gets no hang time on it, as he'll outkick his coverage, which will lead to a significant amount of long returns. You need to look at Kluwe early in his career with the Vikings. He always used to outkick his coverage.

While certainly the Vikings' coverage has gotten better, I think Kluwe has gotten significantly better at the actual art of punting, which is why his net has gone up nearly 5 yds a punt since '05. I think this year was certainly probably his worst year since '08, but it still wasn't horrible enough that I'd consider replacing him yet. But, if he has another similar year, then I'd consider it._________________

I don't really attribute net yardage to the punter. To me that shows the improvement on the coverage team.

Net yardage has significantly more to do with the punter than the coverage team. It doesn't matter if the kicker can boom it if he gets no hang time on it, as he'll outkick his coverage, which will lead to a significant amount of long returns. You need to look at Kluwe early in his career with the Vikings. He always used to outkick his coverage.

While certainly the Vikings' coverage has gotten better, I think Kluwe has gotten significantly better at the actual art of punting, which is why his net has gone up nearly 5 yds a punt since '05. I think this year was certainly probably his worst year since '08, but it still wasn't horrible enough that I'd consider replacing him yet. But, if he has another similar year, then I'd consider it.

Good points but I still think they will replace him if not for his worst season since '08 then for all the off field stuff. Even Priefer had gotten tired of this._________________